~ an irreverent look at UK politics

Desperate, underpaid NHS paramedic tells Theresa May: “I’ve seen things no one should have to witness”

A paramedic has written a moving description on Facebook (see below) of the difficulties he has to face every day in his job, and how he is paid a pittance of just £12.35 an hour to do it.

This is because the Tory government has over the last 7 years capped paramedics’ and other public workers’ pay rises at 1%.

The cabinet ministers who made that decision, however, have seen their own pay rise over the last 7 years to the point they are making approximately £117.92 an hour*, on top of which they can also claim expenses, subsidies and other perks.

A perfect example of Theresa May’s warped Britain today.

Brian Mear:

I joined the Ambulance Service in 1986. For over 28 years I worked doing “Front Line” work. That’s Emergency work. Covering 999 calls. For the last 6 years of my service I worked alone predominantly on nights at weekend so I could care for my mum who had cancer. At night I would be covering 80,000 people alone. In that time I undertook significant training. Advancing myself in skills and knowledge. I became a Paramedic in 1992. A Pre-hospital Trauma Life Support instructor, I trained new entrants on the road for over 16 years. I became an Hems Paramedic on the Thames Valley Air Ambulance dealing with Major System Trauma incidents . I’ve dealt with royalty and the lowest sections of society. Film stars, Rock Stars, Serial Killers, Drug Addicts, I’ve been stabbed twice, punched, spat at. Had vomit thrown in my face. Had ribs broken by being kicked by a hypoglycemic patient. Been called a c*nt and worse, been held at gun point as a hostage even had a man try and bite my nose off.
Been to major shootings. Helped guide 60+ babies into life. Seen countless people at the very end of their journey. I’m trained to cannulate people to administer drugs, intubate, defibrillate , put chest drains in, I’ve put a trachyoctomy on a 16 year old boy hit by a train, tried to resuscitate two burnt toddlers after their father set fire to them both. I’ve seen things that no one should have to witness
At the end of that time with all that experience I was worth £12.35 an hour before tax (this was my bank shift rate on my very last shift, somewhat lower than my colleagues due to not getting anti social enhancements but even with I feel we are criminally underpaid for the work we undertake).
That’s what my skills are worth to society.
Less than an estate agent, less than a refuse collector, much less than any MP regardless of political party, less than the majority of office workers working in a clean environment doing sociable hours.
Yes £12.35 before tax and National Insurance. Tax is something the super rich avoid.
Why because modern society puts no value on me because I don’t make money.
I’m not a footballer or an actor or a bean counter for the banks. I don’t fit into the capitalist system that we are all brainwashed to think is the only workable system humanity can live by.
So go ahead and vote for the Tories again and see the NHS finally die. Let them take away the last decent thing we have left in this country that cuts across all races, ages, and class.
The great institution that our grand parents fought through the horror of the Second World War to set up “from cradle to the grave”.

First off, how nice to start off in a 29 career that hasn’t been chopped off mid-term due to technology changes, or labour markets being cheaper in other parts of the world. My own ‘career’ has had years of gaps of unemployment for those reasons, and for the 5th time I find myself starting at the bottom rung of salaries. That said, the cap of 1% compared to the ever increasing MPs salary is well made.

The torie goverment stinks all they do is make your jobs harder and is bring the nhs too its knees my.vote is for decent hard workng people like yourself I appreciate all the good work your doing Big THanyou much lv dot x

I agree totally with this man. i have worked in the NHS for most of my working life, 1971 I joined the Ambulance Service because I was in awe of the Ambulance Men and Women. I worked in the control room and saw first hand what some of the jobs did to the crews,in those days the control room was actually joined to the station and we were like a family. I consequently married an ambulance man and he did his training to be a paramedic at home whilst still doing his regular shifts ( no going to university then ) and he used to do his reading and studying in our bedroom so he could concentrate away from our young children. The shifts then we’re eight hour shifts.7 to 3, 3 to 11 and 11 to 7 at night that was still wearing….Now they do 12 hour shifts which often turn into 13 or 14, if you cop an emergency at the end of your shift , people can only do this for so long before they, themselves become ill. The Ambulance Service years ago you could only get in if somebody died or retired ( they used to call it dead man’s shoes )People were In the job for the whole of their working life, not so now people are leaving in there droves because they are burning out. All for how much?!!??

I’d like to see and wish it could be a reverse a review on the last few years of pay rises to MPs make them fall in line with public sector workers no increase in their pay and less public sector workers get the same percentage and I’d like to see backdated public sectors pay to fall in line with all the increases on our governments increases

I used to work in an ambulance control room, I know what you and so many others of you have had to put up with.
I believe that you are worth your weight In Gold! It is shameless to believe that you are paid the pittance that you all get. When our MP’S are paid so much for so little!!!!

Fact checker……. I think you will find that if you do the maths even at 26000 this equates to around £13 per hour. I for one think this does represent the work that is done by paramedics or other nhs staff who over the last 7 years have had to take a real terms pay cut.

The Tories are hellbent on the creeping dismemberment of the ,NHS and the early election will give May ‘carte blanche’ to do this for 5 years. YeH, medicine is a vocation but deserves proper recognition, protection and recompense
The ammnimals who attack medics should be punished vigorously; it really is inexcusable!

SO WHY ARE PARAMEDICS AND OTHER AMBULANCE STAFF ALL LEAVING a supposed wonderful profession? These are some of my reasons I’m sure many Ambulance personnel will relate to them and if nothing’s done about these issues, then I guarantee the Ambulance Service Trusts will continue to haemorrhage staff. In a nutshell the whole profession needs a reset and and acceptance that it’s a very highly professional profession and it needs to be seen and treated as such by ITS OWN NHS, AND THE GOVERMENT, The time of paying Donkeys wages IS OVER £20,000 -30,000 MORE per year is easy ,working twice as less and I’ve proven it!!!!

I’m a Paramedic who left the Service 3.5 year ago, but stayed on the bank till early 2017. My last shift ran over 2hrs and I didn’t get a break so I said chow to my service. I had been a Naval Bomb Disposal Diver for 24 years, on leaving I became self employed as a Explosive Ordnance Engineer and commercial diver. I joined the Ambulance Service as a direct entry Technician in 2006 and soon completed my Pre Paramedic Exams. However I was then faced with having to go to University to complete my Paramedics Training at the age of 47 as the trust had ceased training its own Paramedics under the IHCD umbrella (this is now nationwide)

So I paid £7000 of my own money to travel to Cape Town and complete my Paramedics training in the trauma capital of the world. On returning from the Cape I completed some university written modules to bring me in to line with the new Uni training and hospital time i.e. Paediatrics. Obstetrics, and Theatre (for intubation). After completion I Returned to my Station as a qualified frontline Paramedic. Soon afterwards I became the Lead Paramedic at my Station. I completed 7 years service and then decided to leave for a number of reasons

The wages were laughable £1700 per month full time OMG !! I was earning less than if I was back all those years ago as a baby diver in the Royal Navy, it would have taken me 7 years to be paid the same wage as previously qualified paramedics before pay banding was introduced even tho I was the Lead Paramedic Officer. I was paid £50 per month more before tax for the Officers Job role (In this role you still did all your shifts on the road but also had admin to complete in between calls, simply put this was a joke and an insult.

The retirement age was raised to 67 (quite simply put whoever made this decision is absolutely insane, Being an ex Naval Clearance Diver I still pride myself on my fitness and stamina to this day, but with sleep disruption shift patterns adrenaline shots 8-9 times daily and the work load on the frontline, someone has made an almighty cock up of a decision on this one please step forward you fool.

Shifts changing from days to nights then nights back to days swiftly and frequently, took its toll, along with community acquired pneumonia and folliculitis, remember I was working in a closed small metal box with people sneezing, bleeding, vomiting & sometimes bodily fluids pouring out. Universal precautions were taken gloves, goggles, and an apron when it was obvious (after it had happened) and expected which wasn’t often. Until I joined the Ambulance Service I had maybe 1-2 weeks off work in 28 years.

To all those Infection control admin staff please note I was chemical munitions disposal trained completing this type of live clearance every four months for the previously 20 years, so please let’s not live in La La land, Paramedics & Ambulance staff get exposed daily to much much more than hospital staff as 99.9% of the time we don’t know the patients medical history before arriving on scene. Often we have delivered patients to hospital only to be asked by ED to place them in the isolation unit, and yes we are wearing only our blue gloves. So please infection control champions go teach those that are naive enough to believe you. And yes I’ve used positive chemical suits, De-contam stations, Hot areas, shuffle pits, shaped charges with decontamination pits, for real chemical Munitions and even IED’s many times in the past, so please keep your universal precautions card in your pockets. I won’t even mention the universal precautions policy being used against staff in a disciplinary /legal capacity to avoid litigation.

The paramedic skills have increased tenfold over the last few years in some trusts with a huge amount of patients being treated and left at home who dial 999. Tia’s, Asthmatic attacks to name but a few conditions all being managed safely at home due to training. new drugs, and clinical autonomy that the Paramedic now has. (London is somewhat way behind on this) after speaking to some EX LAS Paramedics I now work with, hope this is changing or has changed.

I considered myself ideal for the Job, I had worked on a bomb team for years, I was fit, disciplined, and enthusiastic (even paid 7 grand of my own money for my own training) blue light experienced, and had made on the spot decisions with available information all my working life.

However I never realised how poor a brother the Ambulance Service was to the two emergency services that being the Police and Fire Brigade. Remember the Ambulance Service is not classified as an Emergency Service (It does not come under the Home Office) it’s called an essential service and here’s another joke. If I had know the differences in pay, terms and conditions, then these services would have been better for myself and family. However being a Paramedic outside the NHS now eventually has many many advantages.

Paramedics are now highly sought clinicians by minor injury units, GP surgeries, community paramedics, custody suites, Clinical Advisors for 111 services, repatriation flight para, and the offshore industry of which I was part of for a year, to name but only a few. Wages in these areas can be up to £10,000 – £30,000 more than current NHS Paramedic pay,even more if self employed and hugely hugely more favourable working conditions.

Changing Paramedic training to university graduates has brought a new young workforce to the service, working horrendous long shifts, day and night, working most weekend (highest demand) for low pay and being asked to work till they are 67 under these conditions! how long do you think they will stay once the misguided glamour (born from TV programs like casualty) has faded. It doesn’t take Einstein to work this one out. I had admiration for my Trust and it’s total commitment to improving things for staff and patients, it’s training and lead in clinical governance was and is ground braking, but alas this is all for the patient, its hands are tied by central funding, targets and a huge surge in demand when it comes to bettering the lives of its staff both financially and in their work life balance.

People are asking why the Ambulance Services are haemorrhaging staff!!! Well now you know and I assure you it will continue to bleed and can only worsen until the profession is totally realigned within the NHS spectrum of job evaluations, placing it not a few steps but many steps up the ladder. NHS Paramedics have rarely moved out of the NHS service in the past, but have had to sit and watch other clinicians gain lifestyles they could only dream of, well the tide has changed these companionate, dedicated, very rare breed of people now want a work life balance that others have enjoyed for years, and guess what!! They want to be paid as professionals not yellow van drivers. This post doesn’t come from the patient! It doesn’t come from the management, it doesn’t come from the bean counters it’s simply from the frontline and as such like WW1 Bad bad news from the front stayed at the front. But then they didn’t have social media to share then did they 😉
So just sit back and watch them LEAVE AND TAKE BACK CONTROL !!! Best patients care!!! You’ve been hoodwinked with this saying for years! Look after yourselves, look after your own families, and then only then will you be able to look after your patients. Not once did I ever hear best staff care 😒. And please don’t get me wrong I left the service with a bank contract and a clean slate so I have no axe to grind except with the system £26,000 has just been agreed by the government absolute joke !! For shift work and skill sets, try £35 grand plus a change in working practices and you might be getting it right like Holland.

George

Ps NHS 111 clinicians can’t see patients, can’t ausculate patients, can’t palpate patients, can’t smell patients, and sometimes through third parties can’t hear patients, paramedics are very very very good at keeping ambulance dispatch rates down guys when used in 111. But remember they only have their hearing and sometimes not that, thousands and thousands of calls are being kept away from amb, ed by 111, the system would totally implode without it. Every single frontline paramedic who has joined 111 has said Christ I can’t believe it’s like this, it has to be another 30% safe on top of safe as it’s all done over a bloody telephone. So hold fire fellow Paramedics on the guys/girls who have had the balls to leave the service and get our profession up and running in better paid and better work life balance jobs. I know both sides of the coin and trust me without 111 our healthcare system would be overwhelmed. The frontline only sees extra cases coming to them but we have became such a needy nation that absolutely thousands upon thousands are receiving home managements advice, contact own GP after weekend, contact own GP within 3 working days, medication advice, ooh gp appointments from 111, the shear numbers of callers who would otherwise swamp 999 or other services is just simply staggering. one day when you’ve had enough frontline (well before your aged 67) you will see the other side of the fence and you and your families will be better for it. So remember next time you go to a headache the patient has almost defiantly told the call taker more than once that it came on instantly like being hit on the head with a brick and it’s severe, I’m sure they will tell you something differently, huge numbers play their symptoms up as they want an OOH Gp appointment but this can lead to emergency dispositions unknowingly for the patient. Unfortunately we don’t have the number of clinicians to triage all the calls coming through 111 UNLESS YOU COME AND JOIN US!!! But then who would do frontline????

Thank you for a very moving superbly written account of youvexperiences and rationally put values which if this government had a scrap of social conscience should never have been necessary. It should be shaming to them but will not touch any nerves with these greedy soulless thugs.

I too worked in the ambulance service i am now retired, i miss my work terrible and wish i was still helping people, once a fellow paramedic said he was chatting to a man who worked in the buffett carriage on the trains, he said he earned 28k a yr, he replied i only earn 24k a yr (this was 15yr ago) and the man said why do you do your job then as it pays so little, the paramedic replied, because i love my job it gives me purpose and life, also enjoyment, the man said how with all you see and put up with, para replied well this is what i am ment to do its a vocation just like you love your job, the man said i dont love my job i love the money it pays……

Who was it there saving the the injured politicians and the injured public yes the police paramedics and the NHS it’s them that put the lives on the line for what peanuts compared to the government pay

We have the exact same problem in America. The rich and powerful take everything and we fight for scraps rather than uniting and rising up to fight our persecutors. They should at least pay their fair share, but we are continuing to go in the wrong direction. All this society teaches you is to only care about yourself and put making money above all else. Bow down and serve our masters for the best scraps possible or live in dirt while you do what’s right. It’s getting worse every single year. Many of us cry out for change, but too many are brainwashed and vote against themselves constantly. Not sure how to fix this, but a shitstorm is coming if we don’t.

I dont disagree with the hard work the paramedics do, but the bloggers maths dont add up to me. The the blogger quotes sources at the bottom, which say ministers get paid £96375 a year and his own source says they work 1200 hrs a year (official) and 2070 hrs a year actual (from research on new mps) so even using the official figures that works out at £80.31 an hour, unofficially that works out at £46.55 an hour, which is far from the big head line quote for £117.96 an hour. Also the figures the blogger quote are only for MPs, I would assume being a minister takes more time too.

Also the figure for the paramedics looks a bit low too, the quote says hes been working for the ambulance service for over 28 years, and worked through to be a trainer ect. The current entry level for a salary for a paramedic start in Band 6, which ranges from £26,565 to £35,577 for 37.5 hrs a week. If you continue to work up to the level of consultant paramedic, salaries at Band 8c may be achieved, which range from £56,104 to £68,484. So £12.35 an hour seems very low for someone of that experience.

Even if the guys pay was lower than standards today, the head line quote for ‘Theresa Mays Britain’ prob should use the current figures not the pay of a retired paramedic who stopped working a number of years ago.

Our emergenc services and NHS staff are the best you could wish for, they deserve to be the highest paid workers out there. Without these people, we would be in dyer straights, but you see, the government are never going to care about them really, as, they can afford to pay privately. On the other hand, vote labour, and we won’t have to worry about any of this, we’ll either die from Isis or, a nuclear attack, as we won’t have any defences.

What is the alternative? Vote corben? Ive been labour all my voting life but id rather take my chances with teresa may than put that total idiot in charge. No matter who we vote for the lower classes will always suffer the most and im clueless how this can change. Money is power, is god, gives an unfair advantage. We need a strong leader to take us through brexit. Old jeremy just doesnt cut the muster.

I think people forget the reason why we have only had 1% pay rise for the last god knows how many years. It was the free spending labour blair/brown government that sent this country spiralling head long into a debt that eventually we would not have paid back, potentially putting us into a similar position to Greece, Spain, Portugal etc.

It should be made clear that paramedics with 2 or more experience are now on over £14 an hour with potentially 25% increase for unsocial hours which will increase year on year to £18.06 plus 25% after 6-8yrs depending on current experience. That’s 35225 a year basic. Or £44031 after unsocial hours.

Before voting I would suggest that the party you decide to vote for should be 100% clear on how all these new expenditures will be paid for. If it’s a return to the sisterhood borrow now pay later then steer clear for the sake of the NHS

While I agree £12.35 is not a particularly high wage you are still better off than those on basic pay I realise that your qualifications entitle you to higher than basic pay but to give us “the public ” a better idea of your true wage could you tell us your hourly rate for night shift,a bank shift and weekend shifts also do you get paid when you are off sick?

We, as members are f the United Kingdom should be thoroughly ashamed of the way our Paramedics are paid. They do an amazing job, often in terrible conditions .
Their own lives are often ‘on the line’. It is amazing that young men and women are even prepared to become Paramedics. It certainly is not for money or glory
Ann V Faragher

If the mps recived 7pounds 50 pence an hour how would they manage i have to work 180 hours a month on the above per hour lets c them live on that and take home 1000 pounds after stopages per month thats pocket money to them lazy lieing swines out for themselves

This should be made into a petition, how is it fair that anyone doing this amount of work is worth less than £13 an hour?? MPs and others should be ashamed of themselves and give up a fair share of their pay so that the real workers are rewarded for real work!

£12.35 @ 37.5 hours = £24,082 per annum, band 5 paramedic (basic) starts at £21,909 to £28,462…..so they are paid that much!! And this guy has been doing the job for 28 years!!!!!! Underachiever of the century…..oh but he’s not, he’s trained new entrants for 16 years and became a HEMS air ambulance paramedic………which has a starting trainee salary of £35,000!!! So I think this is just a little bit of ‘propaganda’. I do notice that he stated that his last shift was quoted at ‘bank shift rate’ so basically a lie as to what he’s actually paid!!

I have worked in the NHS for over 40 years and have enjoyed all I have done except when I worked in Public Health. It was here I learned not only wax I wrong to think I might make a difference but also the higher up that ladder the more I became used to observing institutional bullying amongst people earning a lot of money to stroke each others egos and talk about what we could do. I soon left to be part of the ongoing slightly of doing what we ought to do.
The paramedics are an amazing section of the NHS who are underestimated and definitely undervalued. I hope the powers of people can change things for the better and not just forget the foundation of our welfare state was built for all of us by the likes of the paramedic above.

Omg words fail me???? Greatly put there paramedic. My husband needed help from you guys last Saturday. I for one just don’t know where I would have been without your help! I thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Your experience and work is hard to put a price label on??? But your worth do much more than your paid! God save our NHS! Let’s hope our government can read your letter and just take in your real worth! ❤️❤️❤️

Fantastically said.
People need to wake up to the fact that the Tories are for the rich, they always have been and always will be. Ask yourself what do they do that remotely has an impact on the well off/rich????🤔 I couldn’t think of anything either. Why are the rich getting child benefit???? I’ve only voted once in my life but will be voting this time. Us nurses and other disciplines do not train hard to get a 1% payrise.

Well said! I’m a nurse & have been for the last 18 years since qualifying, I can’t wait to spend my extra 18p an hour, before tax! 1% is a kick in the teeth & has been for the last few years, it upsets me seeing colleagues leave because they can earn more doing agency work. Leaving us lacking in staff & especially the experience it takes to work in intensive care

Precisely why I will not vote for these sanctimonious liars.
I have been in the NHS for 30 years and am just hanging on for my pension. I now loath the institutions higher archy, and policies, but, I love my job.
However I plan to leave in a few years time once I can. Because the stress and pressure put on staff is unethical and is paramount to abuse.

Bravo. I work as a crisis advocate for people with Learning disabilities. I have over 35 years experience 2 professional qualifications and am educated to post grad level. I have a case load over over 30 people and my non statutory organisation can only afford to pay me 20 hours. I work many more. The government cuts to health and social care mean people are absolutely desperate.for our help and we cannot cope. We work with people who are terminally ill, detained, losing their children, losing their housing, jobs, benefits. The job is stressful and we never know when we visit someone what we are going to face. We get no unsociable hours a miniscule pension and no job security. All for 11.50 an hour. 1% pay rises for the last 2 years. There are multitudes of people worse off then me. I care for my grandson pre and post school every day and holidays so his Mum can go out to work earning minimum wage. Tell me Mrs May, what are you going to do?

… but you hold the knife by the handle: next time you go to a life-saving emergency of a wealthy person, before you apply your valuable skills, ask to be paid a lot of money cash in advance. Give THEM the pay disparity speach. Do it. See what happens.

I have always said emergency service people should be paid more than footballers, pop stars, actors, bankers, mp’s ( or other money hungry people). They do a far more important job than the previous mentioned. They save lives!!!!! MP’s don’t. They try to control other peoples lives by withholding decent pay.

Well said, Unfortunately I agree with what this paramedic says. The nhs and all us hard working, life saving staff, are being starved of what we should be paid. We are being left behind in the pay scale and with the cost of living going up , our pay is dropping. I feel for the front line staff, they put up with all the rubbish, at least in the hospitals the patient have been treated prior to the nurses taken over. They should certain get much more in their pay packet, we all should. Perhaps the MPs should try and live off what we do, not even having to put up with the hard work, long hours and abuse we put up with on a daily basis, then see how hard life is off their highly paid privileged seat, then tell us we are only worth 1% or nothing.

The whole country should rise up In civil disobedience /general strike this Tory shower of shite has inflicted great damage to our country with so called Austerity measures
The reasons
caused by financial institutions
Flooding our country with cheap labour
Overstretching our inferstructure to breaking point with masses uncontrollable immigration
N who ends up paying THE ORDINARY WORKING MAN/WOMEN every time
BE it nurses doctores firemen Police prison officers.. plus most of the private sector
A VOTE FOR THE TORIES WILL BRING AN END TO OUR NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
WAKE UP PEOPLE OVER UK
SMELL THE COFFEE.
BEFORE ITS TO LATE

I disagree, paramedics are now paid band six after a two year probationary period (that’s due to their unsociable hours and is better than what a nurse is on after two years). If you look up the band 6 pay rates they are fairly healthy. Having served as a soldier (working in healthcare) in Afghanistan (as well as the UK) I can honestly say there are worst jobs out there (were you truely see things nobody should have to see). With soldiers fighting most recently Labour party initiated wars for 18k a year without the understanding of what they are truly fighting for. As a freelance paramedic (or agency as it is known) you can clear upwards of 30 pounds an hour (more in London, dependant certain factors) and register yourself as a limited company, as a lot of freelance healthcare professionals do in order to pay minimal tax. If you dont fancy the limited company route you can join an umbrella company that takes the corporation tax hit for a nominal fee. You can also claim back your tax on various ‘company items’ (laptops, washing machines etc). I had a friend last year that cleared 70k working freelance with his limited company (that consists of just him). What is immoral is the 50 pound an hour these companies are charging the NHS for Labour. What is immoral (off subject) is the ridiculous price the NHS has to pay for medical devices, equipment and pharmaceuticals. I appreciate that back in the day (when Labour were probably in power anyway) that pay wasn’t great but the cost of living was cheaper so it equals out. I agree we should all be paid more but there is only so much money in the pot, we do not live in a fairy tail.

It was the governing body of an organisation so-called government that enforced in you the lie that paying money you earn for your hardwork to them (aka taxes) would allow them to look after your and everyone else’s interests when obviously their real intent is to have your money to themselves while YOU do all the hard work of doing good to the people. You are an honourable hard working man who, like us all, was sold a lie. People in government don’t give an absolute shite to your complaints because they themselves have never done any hard work, all they did was to study demagogy in their rich schools so they can carry on convincing people like you to carry on giving their best for practically nothing.

I do really sympathise with all NHS staff, except for the administration which is excessive in number, and awful in execution. I am a pensioner wh is just about in the taxable bracket, and has to draw on savings to pay for heating, I would willingly pay another 1 or 2 p in the £ if it all went to the NHS, and suspect I’m not in a minority. However, spending more than you earn, is the quickest route to economic disaster, that’s why we have e problem, and for that you can thank Blair and Brown.

Paramedics are our unrecognised heros. Don’t knock them as one day you will be grateful they are by your side in your hour of need. They will be calm, professional, caring in all horrendous circumstances but most of all can save your life. You can’t put a value on that.

Nothing to do with the 2008 financial crash then? After the deficit increased to support the banks during the Credit Crunch, the fiscal position of Darling had the UK on a recovery growth curve. Osborne killed it with his Austerity (for the poor) budget when the Tories gained power in 2008.

If you’re going to try and quote “facts”, try and do some research before spouting the line the Tories and media have used to justify “Austerity for the Poor”

I have told all before that we, my husband and I saw the NHS being born..
and if you lot are not careful, we will see it die..and serves you right if you are blind to the truth that the Tories are determined to kill it …for goodness sake..open your eyes and see that Jeremy Corbyn is doing his best to protect it…support him..and when he is in power..he will do just that..along with taxing the rich as they should be by law..the rest of you have been..so why not them.

The Tory government Is going to watch our beloved country fall on it’s knees they don’t have to worry they earn enough its very sad to read about a paramedic who is paid a pittance for all the hard work they do The government are completely mad but then again we as a society’s are just as bad for letting this happen I have not and don’t intend to ever vote Tory